The present invention relates to associating image data and location data. In particular, but not exclusively to enable map-based cataloguing of image recordings. As used herein, image recordings includes single photographs, sequences of photographs, and video recordings, all whether chemical or digital.
Classification of photographs, particularly those taken by individuals and families, has long been a problem due to the effort involved in maintaining any organisation of the photos. What is needed is a logical organisation, valid over a lifetime, that requires minimal effort to implement and is intuitive to use when retrieving photos.
It has been previously proposed to associate location (and orientation) data with digital photos. The location data can be derived in any suitable manner such as from a GPS system or by using information obtained from a cellular radio system. Thus, IBM Technical Disclosure 413126 teaches a digital camera provided with a GPS receiver. U.S. Pat. No. 5,712,679 discloses a locatable portable electronic camera which is arranged to send back image and location data when triggered, the location data being displayed on a map and the image being shown separately. Also of interest is U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,934 which describes a portable locating system with a GPS unit that is operative to store a travel history of locations visited.
Other proposals go further and disclose the management digital photographs by using an electronic map to show a thumbnail of each photograph at a corresponding position of the electronic map. FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the main elements for implementing such an system, these element being a digital camera 3 equipped with a GPS receiver for determining camera location using signals from satellites 2, a PC 5 for receiving digital photographs 4 downloaded from the camera 3 together with GPS-derived location information about where each photograph was taken, an album program 6 for managing the downloaded photographs, a store 7 for storing the digital photographs (plus location information), and a store 8 for storing map data (the stores 7 and 8 will generally be internal to the PC 5 but may by external). Such an arrangement is described, for example, in JP 10233985A.
The combination of location-tagged digital photographs with map-based digital photograph albums should greatly facilitate the management of photographs for the ordinary user. However, it is important that the photograph management systems provided with the map-based electronic albums are also flexible and easy to use. In this respect the above-mentioned JP 10233985A describes the possibility of the user classifying each photograph whilst JP 8335034A discloses the use of an icon to represent groups of photographs on a map display.
A drawback of current proposals for map-based albums is that they require the location information be associated with the digital photographs in the camera; however, appropriately equipped cameras are presently not widely used. One proposal for alleviating this problem is to enable the user to set in location data directly into the electronic album in respect of any photograph that lacks this data. This may be acceptable for the occasional photograph but impractical for large numbers of photographs.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to facilitate the use of map-based electronic albums with cameras (and other recording means) that are not equipped with location-determining means.
JP 10023398-A (Kazutoshi) describes van-mounted image and position recording devices with the images recorded by the image-recording device being correlated with the position measurements by timestamps.
Certain embodiments of the present invention described hereinafter utilize data bearer services and location services of cellular radio networks. Such networks are widespread though the afore-mentioned services are only now being taken up significantly. To facilitate an understanding of the embodiments of the invention that utilize these services, a brief review of cellular network technology and how the foregoing services can be implemented is given in the Annex appearing at the end of this description, reference being had to FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawing that depicts a mobile location-aware service being provided to a mobile entity 20 via a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) 10.
According to the present invention, there is provided a method of associating location data with image recordings, comprising the steps of:
(a)xe2x80x94using a camera to take a number of image recordings;
(b)xe2x80x94in association with taking each of at least some of said image recordings, using a mobile device that is operatively associated with a mobile radio infrastructure and separate from the camera, to provide, or trigger the provision of, a location data item indicative of the location at which the image recording was taken;
(c)xe2x80x94storing, in a store connected with the mobile radio infrastructure, the location data items obtained in step (b);
(d)xe2x80x94subsequently retrieving the location data items from said store and uniting each location data item with the corresponding image recordings.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of associating location data with image recordings, comprising the steps of:
(a)xe2x80x94using a camera to take a number of image recordings that are distinguished from each other by an implicit or explicit location-independent reference associated with each;
(b)xe2x80x94in association with taking each of at least some of said image recordings, using a mobile device that is operatively associated with a mobile radio infrastructure and separate from the camera, to provide, or trigger the provision of, location data indicative of the location at which the image recording was taken;
(c)xe2x80x94storing, in a store connected with the mobile radio infrastructure, the location data obtained in step (b) together with implicit or explicit indexes for matching with the reference associated with the corresponding image recording;
(d)xe2x80x94subsequently uniting the location data with the corresponding image recordings by a correlation process using said references and indexes.